1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to networked computer systems, and more particularly to a system and method for evaluating the operation of a computer over a computer network.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In recent years, the proliferation of computers and advances in computing technology have had a profound impact on the way in which companies communicate, maintain records, and conduct business generally. Computer networks have been utilized to such great extent that email is rapidly replacing the telephone for many communications. Increased sophistication in computer systems has enhanced the way that many companies conduct business. Indeed, except for very small businesses, virtually all business environments have networked computer systems. With the ever-increasing complexity of computer systems, a computer specialist (often called a network administrator) is often employed to maintain proper working operation of a computer network, and to troubleshoot, diagnose, and correct problems that arise.
It is common for computer systems, in particular local area networks (LANs), to have numerous errors, the majority of which require different messages to be sent to the user and the occurrence and performance of many different complex actions for recovery. These errors result from a variety of conditions, including configuration errors, hardware errors and communication errors.
At present, error analysis and problem resolution is often handled manually by network administrators. There are, however, problems with this approach. For example, the network administrator generally must troubleshoot the problem at the workstation that is experiencing the problem. In networks that are rather disperse (perhaps across buildings in different geographic locations), then additional costs are realized in the form of travel time and expenses for the network administrator, or in keeping multiple network administrators on staff (to service different locations).
In addition, the troubleshooting process itself is rather time-consuming, as it is typically performed in small incremental steps. For example, suppose a workstation received some sort of network connectivity error. The network administrator may troubleshoot this problem by first evaluating the internal configuration of the workstation. Thereafter, the network administrator may control the workstation to perform incremental network transmissions (e.g., using a utility program such as xe2x80x9cPingxe2x80x9d). Sometimes, troubleshooting requires a rather tedious trial and error method of diagnosis.
As will be appreciated, this type of error diagnosis often requires that the network administrator possess a relatively high level of knowledge and sophistication, at least with regard to computer systems. As a result, such network administrators generally command a higher salary, and therefore a higher expense.
Accordingly, it is desired to provide a system that offers improved capability and flexibility for diagnosing and troubleshooting computer problems in a networked computer environment that eliminates, or at least reduces, the shortcomings noted above.
Certain objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned with the practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
To achieve the advantages and novel features, the present invention is generally directed to a system and method for evaluating the operation of a managed object (e.g., node) in a computer network environment. Broadly, the invention permits a user, such as a network administrator, to remotely initiate and control the diagnostics of a node of a networked computer system. This diagnostic control is performed by the user selecting a diagnostic routine that is to be executed. This diagnostic routine instructs the managed node to collect configuration or other data and report this data back to the diagnostic control, which is then reported back to the user.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the system includes a management client executing a user interface, such as a Web browser. The system also includes a management server executing a Web server, wherein the Web server is configured to be invoked by the user interface (e.g., by specifying a URL). The management server further includes software for dynamically serving data to the Web server, and at least one diagnostic control (e.g., COM object) that defines a plurality of diagnostic steps to perform on a managed object. Finally, the system includes a managed object (e.g., a network node) having data control software configured to collect data from the managed object in response to specific requests made by the diagnostic control. Preferably, the data control software is configured reports the collected data back to the diagnostic control over the computer network.